The man accused of robbing a Waffle House with a pitchfork is now accused of more serious crimes in Tennessee, according to police.
Jeffery Willard Wooten, 49, was taken into custody Friday afternoon in Knoxville after allegedly killing a man, carjacking a vehicle and leading police on a chase, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies were called to a Hunters Ridge Way home around noon after a woman reported that her vehicle had been taken at gunpoint and her brother had been shot, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The woman told police she and her mother pulled into the mother’s driveway and were confronted by a man with a gun. The man, later identified as Wooten, took the woman’s vehicle and fled, police said.
When the woman entered the house, she found her brother, Randy Lands, 44, dead. He had been shot and killed according to police.
Knox County deputies were assisted by Loudon County deputies and the FBI in apprehending Wooten after he crashed the vehicle, police said today. Wooten was injured in the crash but not seriously. He was booked into jail after being treated at the hospital, according to police.
Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Wooten was wearing coveralls and a ski mask when he allegedly entered a Buford Highway breakfast eatery on May 1 and forced employees into a back room, according to Norcross police. Wooten tried to leave the restaurant with the cash register and his weapon — a pitchfork.
Outside of the Waffle House, Wooten dropped his pitchfork, according to police. But he held on to the cash register. Two restaurant employees than grabbed the pitchfork and used it to smash the back window of Wooten’s truck, police said.
Investigators believe Wooten may have been injured while attempting to leave the restaurant. He refused to stop for police and later abandoned his truck, police said.
Wooten had eluded capture until Friday, when he was arrested in Tennessee, police said.
“He has a criminal history in Knox County that includes resisting, simple possession, armed robbery, burglary, flight/escape, weapon offense, and stolen vehicle,” the Knox County Sheriff’s Office posted on its website.
Wooten was charged with murder and two counts of aggravated robbery and booked into the Knox County jail, where he was being held today. He has also been charged with being a fugitive from justice for the alleged pitchfork crime in Norcross.
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